Track-laying apparatus.



G.- D. BALDWIN.

TRACK LAYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED FEB 7, I918.

5w Patented Dec. 3,1918.

3 SHEETS-$HEET I.

g Q S n 1mm.

G. D. BALDWIN.

TRACK LAYING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED FEB-7,1918.

Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

3 $HEETS-SHEET 24 G. D. BALDWIN.

TRACK LAYING APPARATUS. APPLHJATION men rise. 1, 191a Patented Dec. 3, 1918.

LQ6A95 3 SHEETS-SHEET a.

EJE

l T L I GEORGE n. BALDWIN, or nononnn nnw JERSEY.

TRACK-LAYING ar rnna'rus.

. e Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 7, 1918. Serial No. 215,746.

h To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGED. B LDwIN, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Hoboken, county of Hudson, and Stateof New Jersey, have invented a new and useful the track can be permanently laid so that when finishedthe regular service trains can run over it as usual. In the ordinary course of track laying, a partly completed roadbed is provided, permanent rails are laid to the gage of the ordinary track, and the construction train is run out on these rails and the roadbed built up and finished as fast as possible. This sometimes involves the practical destruction of the rails as they are fractured and twisted by the heavy construction train. Furthermore the construction train generally used has at its forward end a car provided with derricks and conveying apparatus intended to reach out in advance of the car to perhaps the length of the car or a little more, and has a gang of men employed to work on this short section of track, after ,which the train is advanced and the operation repeated. The result is that the gang of men employed are in one anothers way, and enough men cannot be used to make very rapld progress. My invention 1s intended to obviate these difficulties and provide means whereby a long stretch of track, say half a mile or more, canbe quickly, cheaply and permanently laid, and the men employed to the best possible advantage, which will appear clearlyfrom the description to follow.

Reference is to be had to the accompany.

ing drawings forming a part of'this specification, in which similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure, l is a broken perspective view showing the apparatus in use and conveying the tiesto the point wherethey are to be used. t

Fig. 2 is a similarview showing the rails as they are conveyed to the point where they are to be laid. t

Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view showing how the construction train can be laid out.

rate -rennet. a, rai s.

Fig. 4 isa diagrammatic side elevation of the structure shown in Fig. 3. n F g, 5 1s a diagrammatlc plan showing how a pipe line can be carried bysome of the trucks.

Fig. 6 is a side elevationofa part of the apparatus showing means for handling the permanent ralls. f I

F g. 7 1s an end view of one of the rail carrying trucks and the means for depositmg the rails.

rail carrying trucks and the rails which it carries, and t Fig; .9 is a detail showing how thetruck actuating cable can be supported at theend of the extensible track.

My invention is used after the roadbed is laid.- The firstthing to do is to placethe engineers stakes 10 as usual, these being laid out along the line of the roadbed for a long Fig. 8 1s a broken plan view of one of the i distance and marked to indicate theline and grade of the track. A light narrow gage track is then laid out in sections 11, these sections comprising a pair of rails coupled together by suitable cross-ties12 and provided attheir end portions withsupports 13 which are laid on the ties 14c. The several sections 11 are connected together by any suitablecouplings, andthe supports 13 may be of anysuitable character, the supports shown being preferred, and these are simply other tie laid, then .anothersection of track 11 laid and coupled to the next section, and

this arrangement can be carriedout to the dlstance lntendedto be covered by theties section of the track 11 laid thereon, then ant i and rails on the construction train as presently described. It will be seen that this arrangement may be extended for an indefinite distance, limited only as above stated by the capacity of the construction train, and this can easily carry the materials for laying a half mile of track at one operation.

As soon as the temporary track is laid as stated the track laying crew is strung out along the distance of track to be laid, preferably about four men to each fifteen foot section, two on each side of the track 11, and then a train of light conveyer cars 24 is run out on. the temporary trackll to the desired limit. The conveyer cars form an extensible track, and they are provided' with rails 25 for the trucks to be presently referred to, and the extensible cars 2% can be coupled together as shown at 24: by any suitable means.

The flat cars 15 of the construction train have meanwhile been brought up on the permanent track to the point where the new track is to be laid, and these fiat cars 15 are provided with parallel tracks 16 of the same gage as the track 25, and trucks 17 which are loaded with ties 18 have previously been arranged on the construction train as shown in Fig. 3, and the cars or trucks 17 can be propelled in any convenient way. To provide for rapid work, however, means should be provided for handling them quickly, and a convenient means is to provide a cable 19.

The trucks 17 can be provided with any suitable form of cable grip, and the fiat cars 15 are connected by bridges 20 so that the tracks 16 are continuous along the desired number of cars. On the forward car 15 switches 21 are provided so that the trucks 17 can be switched to the tracks 25, and an inclined bridge 23 connects the forward car with the movable track or conveyer 24. A double acting winch 22 is also provided at the front end of the forward car 15 so that the cable can be wound forward or back as desired. The cable 19 can be supported on the train of flat cars in any usual or preferred way, and at the front end it can be conveniently run over a pulley or sheave 28 at the end of the forward truck or conveyer 24, and thence back over idlers 29 and 30.

The rails 27 for the permanent track can be carried on trucks 26 which can be propelled by the cable 19'after the trucks 17 havebeen drawn back on the Hat car, but I prefer to have these trucks adapted to carry two rails at a time, one on each side, and the rails, to facilitate the work, can be bolted together end to end for long stretches on the flat cars. While I do not limit myself to any particular form of truck and rail depositing mechanism, I 116 ve shown a truck which in connection with the other apparatus is new, I believe, and which is suitable for the purpose. The truck can be provided on opposite sides with rail carriers 27 which are supported on cables 32 and are arranged at opposite sides of the trucks 26, and these are spaced apart as shown in Fig. (3. The cables 32 can be run over guide pulleys 32-3 and 34 and connected with the arms 35 of a nut 36. The arms can run along a framework 37 which will prevent them from turning. The nut 36 travels on the screw 38 which is mounted in bearings 39 and 40 and can be turned by the handwheel 4:1. It will be seen that the screw will serve to support the rails while they are being transported, "and that by turning the handwheel and screw, the nut 36 will be made to move longitudinally so as to lower or raise the rails 27, and thus when the trucks have been propelled forward the required distance the rails can be deposited on the previously laid ties 18 all ready to be spiked down.

To further facilitate the laying of the track the forward conveyer truck 24 of the extensible track may be provided with an indicator 43 which is simply a disk carried on a screw 44 which turns in brackets i5 on the side of the track conveyer. Obviously any other suitable indicator can be used, but

this is adjusted so that themember 38 will come opposite the desired point of a track joint. Then when the permanent track is llaid if the joint varies slightly from the fpoint indicated, the indicator may be moved fforward or back just enough to make it regiister accurately with the joint, and when the extensible track is again moved forward the indicator will be at the exact point to indicate where the rail joint should come and the appropriate ties be laid.

In Fig. 5 I have shown the trucks 26 provided with a pipe line 46 which can be any suitable pipe capable of carrying steam, air or other pressure fluid, and this can be supplied from a tank 47 on one of the fiat cars 15. The object of this is to have a source of power available wherever necessary along the line which is to be laid to operate tamping machines, spiking machines, or other machinery which may be used in laying the track.

"F or convenience I desire to use the extensible track 25 on the trucks or cars 24, as these can be conveniently run out on the temporary track 11 and conveniently connected with the Hat cars, but obviously the cars 24 could be dispensed with and the trucks 17 run directly out on the track 11 without departing from the principle of my invention.

Assume that the trucks with the movable track 25 which is laid thereon, has been pushed out to the desired distance. The trucks 17 are then propelled forward in a long train covering the entire distance of track to be laid, the ties 18 on the trucks are then dumped and the trucks are arranged so that" there willbe the appropriate number of ties for each section between the ties 14 already laid. The empty trucks 17 are then drawn back to the construction train and the crew at onceproceed to lay the ties 18, tamp them and grade them properly for a permanent track; This can be assisted by means of the ordinary leveling board 18* or byany usual or preferred appliance. As soon as thetrain :of trucks 17 is withdrawn the cable carries forward the trucks 26 which are arranged on flat cars 7 It will be noticed that in this way the crew are not interfering with each other and that the work can be carried forward to the best possible advantage. If desired still other cars can be arranged behind theflat cars 15 carrying the rails 27, and these may be loaded with ballast, and the ballast can be carried forward in the way already indicated, after the permanent rails have been laid, and the track can be ballasted.

Thus it will be seen that with my apparatus I can lay a very long section of permanent track and have every man in the crew working to good advantage. After the section of track has been laid as stated, the trucks are hauled back on the flat cars, the construction train pulled back out of the way, and a new train advanced along the just laid permanent track and the operation repeated.

Obivously the details of construction of my apparatus can be departed from very largely without aflecting the principle of the invention, that i the form of truck used, the means of propelling the truck, and other details can be changed, as my invention does not relate to details, but to the organization of the apparatus as a whole.

Attention iscalled to the fact that where comprising a temporary track adapted to extend for a long distance along a roadbed, an extensible track adapted to run on the temporary track and mounted on cars adapt; ed to be connected together, and a series of trucks adapted to run on the said extensible track.

along the temporary track.

2. An apparatus of the kind described 7 comprising a tem y track consisting of pairs of rails of a narrower gage thanthe permanent trackand adapted to be coupled i together, a train of conveying trucks spaced apart, and means for propelling the trucks 3. An apparatus of the kind described comprising atemporary narrow gage track consisting of sections of rails in pairs adapted to be coupled together, an extensible track mounted on the temporary track and carriedon cars adapted to be coupled together, and conveying trucks spaced apart and having means for propelling them alongthe'extensible track: a 4. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a temporary narrow gage track consisting of pairs of rails conneotedtogether and adapted to be coupled to other similar pairs errans, supportsnear the ends of the pairs of rails, and an extensible track mounted on wheels and adapted to be run out upon the said temporary track.

5. -An apparatus of the kind described comprising a temporary narrow gage track adapted to be supported on the roadbed, and an extensible track mounted on wheels and adapted to be extended along the temporary? track.

6. An apparatus [of the kind described comprising flat carshaving narrow gage tracks thereon to support material carrying trucks, a temporary narrow gage track adapted to be laid out in front of the con- 7. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a temporary narrow gage track adapted to be extended along the roadbed, aseries of flat cars having narrow gage tracks thereon, an extensible track mounted on wheels and adapted to be run out on the aforesaid temporary track, a bridge connection between the extensible track and the fiat cars, and means for running out trucks from the tracks on the fiat cars to the extensible track in advance oftheflat cars.

8. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a series of flat cars having nar row gage tracks thereon, a series of material,

carrying trucks on the aforesaid tracks, a temporary track adapted to stretch out in advance of the flat cars, and a cable mechanism for propelling the trucks back and forth over the tracks on the fiat cars and over the said temporary track.

9. An apparatus of the kind described comprising a series of flat cars having nar row gage tracks thereon, a series of material carrying trucks on said tracks, a temporary track adapted to be laid out in advance of the flat cars, an extensible track mounted on wheels and adapted to be extended out on at y the temporary track, and means carried by one of the flat cars for propelling the aforesaid trucks back and forth over the tracks on the fiat cars and the aforesaid extensible track.

' comprising a temporary track, anextensible track adapted to run out on the temporary track, rail carrying trucks on the-extensib1e track, means on said trucks for carrying track rails connected together end to end, and means for depositingthe track rails on macaw opposite sides of the temporary and extensible track.

12. An apparatus of the kind described comprising .a series of flatcars having tracks thereon, a temporary track adapted to be laid out in front of the flat cars, an extensible track adapted to run out on the temporary track, rail carrying trucks on the flat cars adapted to run out on the extensible track and having means for carrying track rails attached together end to end, and

means for depositing the track rails from the truck upon the roadbed on opposite sides of the temporary and extensible tracks.

GEORGE D. BALDWIN.

M. G. ODONNELL.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, I). G. 

